Very few college football players during the game’s illustrious history have been as talented as Adrian Peterson. The running back was an all-time great during his three seasons with the Oklahoma Sooners.
However, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops invoked Peterson’s name when discussing Tennessee Volunteers running back Jalen Hurd.
“He’s just a complete running back,” Stoops said Thursday after practice, via The Courier-Journal. “Just physically if you look at him, he reminds me of Adrian Peterson a little bit. Just that big tall, good-looking running back. Very dynamic player. He’s going to be a heck of a player. They do a nice job of trying to get him the ball in space in a lot of different ways. He looks like he has very good top-end speed and he has that way with some big backs to just be very elusive. Maybe doesn’t look as flashy as the little guys sometimes, but he’s always running away from people, running through people. He’s a very good player.”
Stoops doesn’t have any first-hand experience dealing with Peterson. That was his brother. But the name isn’t brought up without some reverence for the talent that Peterson displayed during his time at Oklahoma.
The Kentucky coach needs to be wary of praising Hurd too much since the Wildcats host the Volunteers this Saturday. Stoops’ squad will be tasked with stopping Adrian Peterson-lite.
As a true freshman, Hurd leads Tennessee with 134 carries for 598 rushing yards. The talented runner is coming off his best game of the season after the Nov. 1 meeting with the South Carolina Gamecocks. Hurd ran the ball 21 times for 125 yards during the Volunteers’ 45-42 overtime victory.